1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to mobile devices and more particularly to secure memory techniques on a mobile device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many known mobile devices support objects, such as by using Java to send, receive, or at least use data, voice, and/or multi-media (audio/video). These objects may be involved in sensitive info information from cellular networks and with many different services. However, garbage collection operations presently performed on mobile devices have security deficiencies.
A non-limiting example of the deficiencies includes collection of unreachable objects. For example, FIG. 1 shows a typical state of a heap between garbage collections of unreferenced objects. A typical garbage collector waits until memory becomes low before collecting unreachable objects. Thus, an object may become unreachable well before it is collected.
This creates an unpredictable window of opportunity for an attack, especially if the memory recovery itself is not secure.